


Friends Without Names

by anistarrose



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Graduation Arc, i don't know how to tag these characters please forgive me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-20 22:16:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21289037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anistarrose/pseuds/anistarrose
Summary: The firbolg goes looking for the red-eyed figure again.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 79





	Friends Without Names

**Author's Note:**

> Will all of this probably get contradicted by the very next episode? Probably. Do I regret writing it? Absolutely not.

The firbolg stops by the barn at the crack of dawn, before even Hernández arrives. The door is locked, so it takes a little creativity to get in, but eventually he’s able to convince the jackalope to unlock it from the inside with her surprisingly dextrous little paws.

He’s pleased to see that although there’s still plenty of hay remaining in the baby pegasus’s food trough, she’s clearly been nibbling on it. Her wings have already regained an opalescent shine to them that they’d lacked yesterday, and her eyes light up when he sits down in front of her stall.

_I’ve been trying to eat, like you said,_ she whispers. 

“Yes, very good. Do you feel like you’re growing big and strong?”

_I don’t know. Maybe a little stronger._

“You are already very brave and strong for your size. You will grow big soon enough if you keep being brave and eating your hay and berries.”

She nuzzles his hand, and he spends a few minutes feeding her and petting her in silence.

“You do not have to talk about it if you do not want to,” he eventually murmurs, “but you have seen inside the Unknown Forest?”

_Yes… it was so dark, I could hardly even tell where my parents were…_

“Did you see anyone with red eyes?”

_I don’t know. I don’t think so. I’m sorry…_

“No need to be sorry. I do not think that they _want_ to be seen.”

_Why not? Are they scared? And hiding?_

“They are very scared, but… I think they are trying to hide us from the forest, not the other way around.”

“Pardon?” Hernandez trotted into the barn, carrying several buckets of feed and medical supplies on his back. “Who’s scared?”

“I was just… telling a story my people like. About a forest and its guardian.”

“Oh! Well then, don’t let me interrupt —”

“The story is done now. I should be going.” The firbolg gives the pegasus one last reassuring pat before standing up. “Keep eating, my brave little friend.”

***

The firbolg sits down and crosses his legs about half a dozen meters out past the edge of the Unknown Forest, then casts Faerie Fire, illuminating the outer reaches of the forest in a soft blue glow that matches the color of the crescent moon overhead.

The light doesn’t reach as far as it should, and begins to fade almost instantly as shadows slowly creep forward to retake the ground and the trees, but the spell succeeds at its intended goal — catching the attention of the red-eyed figure.

_**YOU SHOULD NOT BE** — wait. You again?_

“Yes.”

_The forest is dangerous. You know this._

The firbolg gestures to the empty stretch of land between himself and the nearest tree. “I am keeping my distance, and I will run at the first sign of trouble.” Just for good measure, he scoots a little further backwards. “I do not mean to frighten you.”

_Then why are you here?_

“To… mmmmmm… to talk to you. If that is okay.”

The red eyes blink. _Talk to **me**?_

“Yes.” The firbolg pauses, thinking over what question would be best to ask. “I… would like to know more about the forest. How do the trees grow, without any nurturing sunlight reaching them?”

_Oh. Oh, alright, I suppose I can answer that._ The entity seems surprised by the question, but pleasantly so. _The trees are _why_ the forest is so dark in the first place — they absorb so much light that almost none of it gets through their leaves. _

“And the grass and the bushes on the forest floor? How do they grow, if no light reaches them?”

_They feed upon the contents of the soil itself. Sometimes on the roots of the trees, if the earth deprives them of their nutrients._

“Then what of the mushrooms and the molds?”

_They absorb the excess magic of the trees, and use it to grow their spores. It’s fascinating how this whole ecosystem has developed, hasn’t it? You’d probably love to hear about the lichens, too…_

“Yes, tell me about the lichens. Tell me about _everything_…”

They keep talking for hours as the moon rises into the sky, the trees continue to feed on starlight, and across campus, an owl hoots as Groundsy ducks into his hut — too preoccupied with his own secrets to notice the two nameless friends conversing at the boundary between known and unknown.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, comments are welcomed as always!
> 
> [(also on tumblr)](https://anistarrose.tumblr.com/post/188777076536/just-a-short-fic-about-the-firbolg-the-baby)


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